Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-16

Mr.. D. u. MUM, C0rslc2na ISncler OF
fine stock, was in the city yesterday.
john II. Belcher, q prominent stockman
of Cook county,wa in the city yesterday
So
Powell Bros. yesterday furnished Mr..
G Brown, 8 Mississippi dealer, with a
ca:load Of Texas horses and mares.
Mr. William Powell, the Illinois breed
er, sold half dozen head of Herefords
yesterday to parties east of Fort Worth.
-
The wisest thing for the man who is
starting in stock raising, who has never
handled Shorthorns or thoroughbred cat
tie OF any kind, is to keep his little herd
OF fair common cattle, buy the best bred
bull he can find, and put him upon HE
common cows. In two years he will have
made four times the cost of the bull il he
has has only twelve COWS to use him
upon Tascosa Pioneer.
"Where do you expect most of your
purchasers to come from next yesr?"
was asked Fort Worth mule and horse
dealer.
"From the southern states, as it always
has done. Our animals are not heavy
enough for the work for which draft
horses are required In the north. South
ern farmers require light, active animal
that will do great deal of light work In
the quickest possible time"
The Farm and Ranch, on the subject of
the most profitable kind of horses for
breeding, after disposing of trotting stock
by saying thst branch of breeding Is 8
specially and must be followed as such,
says: The demand which is most easily
met under given conditions is the one that
will be the most successfully supplied.
The farmer who correctly estimates his
facilities will find the largest profit in
draft horses-not thoroughbreds to sup
ply to breeders, but grades for his own
and his neighbors' use. A stout, COM
pactly built horse, that can do successful
work on the farm draw wagon or car
riage with moderate speed, and at the
same time is shapely and en- economical
feeder, will be found as staple as bale
or cotton or q side of bacon. Such AMI
mails are always wanted and always
bring good prices. For this particular
horse, no cross probably produces better
results than Norman or Percheron stall
lions on common Texas or Spanish msres.
Such grades ere by no means experiment
al. They have been tried in this country
and have invariably proved successful.
The cost of raising such horse is merely
nominal compared with the cost of rails
ing scrubs, and the value is more than
double.
Mr.. Wiley Moore, manager of Dull
Bros cattle in LaSalle county. came
back to Fort Worth yesterday and WAS
bounced upon by q reporter for an &C
count of the progress of prickly pear
feeding in the neighborhood in which his
ranges are.
"Well," said he, "you must know the
present is only the beginning of the busi-
ness OF cactus feeding even in Southern
Texas, for, although the pear has long
been known TO be eaten by cattle, it has
never, until recently, been used for
fattening stock for market. DR.. Car
ruthers,s cRttleman of LaSalle county, had
for some time been experimenting with
the pear, to ascertain II it could not,
when used in conjunction with some
other article of food, he made useful, and
year ago he sent samples of the cactus
TO scientists, who declared it to have al
most the same qualities for feed as corn;
and what it lacks DR.. Caruthers has found
to be supplied by cotton seed. Last year
that gentleman fed 1000 head and
on the market they brought
the same price ss the same quality of
corn-fed stock. The next move he made
was to invent machine for cutting the
cactus; for although cattle eat il IS it
grows, they digest it better when it is cut.
The machine he made is in a large
nd -
other PEOPLE are now taking
hold to complete the move he has inaugu.
rated. Several machines are now in use
or making, and enough pear can be cut
with some of them in an hour and half
to feed 500 cattle for q day. The ma
chimes break the thorns OF.
ga great advantage with the prickly
pear is that not particle of hay has to
be fed along with it-only little cotton
seed; ton of cottonseed fed with it will
fatten three steers, just about 700 pounds
to the steer.
"The amount of pear that can be grown |
to the acre of landis enormous, anywhere |
from five to ten tons in LaSsue county. |
L would safely say that GAO acres |
would furnish enough prickly:: pear
to fatten 10000 head If cattle"
"This year in La Sale county, the only |
place where anybody is feeding on the |
pear, I should say there are $4,000 head |
being fed on If. or these DR.. Caruthers
has 5000, Jim Taylor 1900; Rochelle, 500;
Reese & Riley, 500, and we have
800 head, which it is prob |
able we will increase to |
1900. Next year, if the scheme proves |
successful, there will be over %, 600 head |
fed in that county alone, and after that
the system will spread sll through South
ern Texas, for there is no part of the |
country where the pear does not grow, or |
where cattle cannot be fed on it profit
ably.
81 think in few years pear-fed cattle
are going to supersede corn-fed in Texas,
for there is enough pear in South Texas
to feed all the cattle in the state. There
are several ways in which it is
superior to corn, and especially
for Texas feeding. It is quicker fat
tener. Cattle can be grszed right up to
within six weeks of market time, put in
pens and fed up on pears for that time
and they are in Shape. Then all the old
stock, mich cows and poor cattle